Sea Plantain

Appearance

It is a herbaceous perennial plant with a dense rosette of leaves without petioles. Each leaf is linear, 2–22 cm long and under 1 cm broad, thick and fleshy-textured, with an acute apex and a smooth or distantly toothed margin; there are three to five veins. The flowers are small, greenish-brown with brown stamens, produced in a dense spike 0.5–10 cm long on top of a stem 3–20 cm tall.

Naming

There are four subspecies:
⤷ "Plantago maritima" subsp. "maritima". Europe, Asia, northwest Africa.
⤷ "Plantago maritima" subsp. "borealis" A. Blytt and O. Dahl. Arctic regions. All parts of the plant small, compared to temperate plants.
⤷ "Plantago maritima" subsp. "juncoides" Hultén. South America, North America.
⤷ "Plantago maritima" subsp. "serpentina" Arcang. Central Europe, on serpentine soils in mountains.

Habitat

In much of the range it is strictly coastal, growing on sandy soils. In some areas, it also occurs in alpine habitats, along mountain streams. Some of the physiology and metabolism of this species has been described, of particular note is how the metabolism of this species is altered with elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Uses

Like samphires, the leaves of the plant are harvested to be eaten raw or cooked. The seeds are also eaten raw or cooked, and can be ground into flour.